Being a computer geek often has negative connotations, but geeks are actually some of the most impressive and wealthiest people in the world. Can you imagine a world without a computer, Microsoft Word, iPhone, iPod or other electronic devices? If not, thank a computer geek.

Five of the most iconic computer geeks of all time will be mentioned to remind everyone of the major contributions geeks have made to this world. The next time you make a cell phone call or use your computer for email or social networking make sure you pay homage to one of these iconic computer geeks.

1. H.Edward Roberts: Creator of the First Popular Personal Computer
This American engineer, medical doctor and entrepreneur invented one of the first successful personal computers in 1975. Through Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), he also sold calculators. The Altair 8800 personal computer featured the Intel 8080 microprocessor in 1975. This popular computer was sold for $397.
Roberts later collaborated with Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop software for Altair BASIC. In 1977, this Miami native sold MITS and retired to a Georgia farm. He studied medicine and became a doctor in a small town.

2. Chuck Peddle: Commodore PET 2001 and 6502 CPU Designer
Chuck Peddle is an American electrical engineer who designed the MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor and the Commodore PET personal computer. Chuck Peddle worked for General Electric on time sharing systems and later with Motorola in 1973 to develop the Motorola 6800 computer processor.
Peddle wanted to develop an affordable microprocessor to complement the Motorola 6800. At MOS Technology, he designed the 650x family of processors. The 6502 was included in Apple I, Apple II, Commodore VIC-20, Atari 8-Bit computer, Oric, Nintendo Entertainment System, Acorn Computer and BBC Micro. Peddle joined Sirius Systems Technology in 1980 to develop the Victor 9000 personal computer and workstation.

3. Bill Gates: Microsoft Software Company
Bill Gates is the former CEO of Microsoft. He founded the company with Paul Allen. His geeky tendencies helped him to become the wealthiest person in America, and the second wealthiest person in the world in 2011.
Bill Gates is well-known his contribution to Microsoft Office Suite. Before these software applications were released, he worked with Ed Roberts to develop BASIC interpreter for Altair. After he took a leave of absence from Harvard to develop the idea, he never returned.
Bill Gates also contributed to the development of MS-DOS. Microsoft became a major player in the computer industry because of this major contribution. Bill Gates is definitely one of the most iconic computer geeks of all time.

4. Steve Wozniak: Apple Computer Designer
Steve Wozniak is an American computer engineer. He founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. He created the Apple I computer and Apple II computer in the mid 1970s. He accomplished this after he quit his job at Hewlett-Packard. This computer was similar to the Altair 8800. The primary difference was the absence of internal expansion cards.
The first computer consisted of 256 bytes of ROM, a MOS 6502 microprocessor and 4K or 8K bytes of RAM. The computer did not feature a power supply, display or keyboard. Users had to purchase these items after buying the computer. The Apple I was priced at $666.66.

5. Steve Jobs: Apple Computer
Steve Jobs was one of the greatest computer geeks and inventors of all time. As one of the pioneers for the personal computing industry, he created the Apple II series with Steve Wozniak. He also contributed to the creation of Apple Lisa and MacIntosh. These contributions set the stage for the personal computing industry as it is known today.
Before Jobs passed away in 2011, he witnessed the release of the tablet that changed the world. The tablet computer is the next phase of the computing industry. iPhones, iPods and iPads have significantly shaped American history and the world. Prior to recent developments, Jobs also receive recognition for his computer platform development company NeXT.

About the Author:

Stephen Holyman is a network administrator and contributor atBest Computer Science Degrees, a site with information about getting anonlinecomputer science degree.